Mercedes-Benz S550 or Porsche 911 Carrera!?!

idelete

Hi guys, I need help deciding between buying a 2015 S550 or a 2015 911 Porsche. They are both very unique in their own ways, but I can't decide. I am 21 years old, so I don't know how I would look in a S550, but I LOVE the car..

Please don't go off topic, i've worked very hard to get to where I am, and just want some opinions. Thank you guys.

Mr_Shiftright

You'll get lots of different opinions on this question but I will convey to you my personal biases and the reasons why I think that way.

To me, the worst possible choice in a car would be a big heavyweight with enormous horsepower. What's wrong with that? The S550 is beautiful, luxurious, blah blah.

What's wrong is that with a car that large and with that much HP under your foot, you have only one choice in order to have fun with it--you have to drive too fast and brake too fast, and soon enough you're in white knuckle territory screeching around turns that are too narrow and come up too fast. This is no ballerina, so you have to work hard to drive fast.

The Porsche is primarily a sports car, a different animal, more graceful and precise.

So I guess if you want to drive around livin' large and smoking a big cigar, the Mercedes is for you (hey, you should buy what you like!) but if you want a driver's car, there is no substitute for a Porsche.

PS: The Mercedes will also depreciate like a rock thrown off a bridge, if that matters to you.

rhinestonefuse

I'm gong to assume you know how you look in a Porsche 911. So to learn how you will look in an S550, i recommend you visit your local Mercedes Benz dealer and request a test drive. Have the sales/leasing consultant come with you on a test drive so you can stop at various places around the neighborhood. Have him take your picture while you are driving the car, loadng the trunk, entering and exiting the car, etc.

Another useful solution is to bring a few GoPro cameras alng with you, and set them up in several locations inside the interior of the vehicle. You can learn a lot more about this by watching reality TV - Amazing Race and Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee are two shows that do not try to suppress the GoPros in the background.

It sounds like you are well off, so if it's really important to you, the best answer to your question would be to hire a professional production company to capture your test drive experience. They will make you and the car look as good as possible, in the best light, from the best angles, etc.

One important point to consider is seat hight. You do not want people to see you sittng too low in a drivng position. The 550 does come equipped with power seats as standard equipment - make sure the seat hight is higher than average. You do not want to it to look like you are sitting on the floor, eye level with the top of the door frame.

You didnt mention your physical size - this will have a dramatic effect on people's perceptions of you getting n and out of the car (for example, if you are an NBA star, you may appear kind of silly trying to take the tiny Porsche off like a tight suit, where the Mercedes is bigger and more proportional to your height/weight etc). And vice versa if you are very small - the Mercedes will make you look like you stole your dad's ride on your 15th birthday ;-) Bottom line, this is an important issue to consider.

Both cars you are looking at are 2015 models, so I would not worry about reliability, features or performance. As you probably already know they are relatively even in that regard.